Residents Take Issue with Harvard Plans

Representatives of several Cambridge neighborhoods came together last night to discuss their opposition to various Harvard building projects.

The Agassiz Neighborhood Council brought together representatives from a handful of neighborhoods—including Agassiz, Riverside, Cambridgeport and Mid-Cambridge—each of whom discussed a Harvard building project of concern close to their homes.

Several Agassiz activists put together a petition to protest Harvard’s plan to move the Peabody and the Natural History Museums from their neighborhood.

“I urge anyone in this room to try and [sign the petition] before they leave,” Agassiz activist William Bloomstein told the room of 30 Cantabrigians.

Bloomstein and others recently formed a committee called ACID—the Agassiz Committee on the Impact of Development—in direct response to Harvard’s construction projects in the North Yard area, which include several science buildings.

The Law School, located adjacent to Agassiz, also has made several tentative presentations to Agassiz neighborhood leaders about their needs for space.

“Everywhere you turn, as a neighborhood we’re getting hit,” Bloomstein said.

Representatives of the City Council’s newly formed town-gown committee—created early this year to deal with Cambridge’s front-burner issues of university expansion—also attended the meeting to express their support.

“I think we’re all very, very concerned with how we can protect the neighborhoods,” said City Councillor David P. Maher, who chairs the town-gown committee.

Representatives of Agassiz, Riverside, Cambridgeport and Mid-Cambridge also discussed their experiences with Harvard.

Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association (MCNA) President John Pitkin urged other neighborhoods to join the MCNA in opposition to Harvard’s planned Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS), which will house the government department and half a dozen related centers.

Pitkin asked other neighborhood activists to attend the City Council’s public hearing on the CGIS next month, after which the council will decide whether to allow Harvard to construct a tunnel beneath Cambridge Street.

“I ask for your support because of the price that’s involved, affecting every neighborhood,” Pitkin said.

—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu